This invention relates in general to wireless communication systems, and more specifically to a method for prioritizing a communication in a wireless communication system.
Call prioritization based upon location is becoming increasingly important. For example, time is money for many people, and dealing with phone calls or other messages takes time. Being able to route calls to alternate services, e.g., voice mail, on various criteria is becoming important to help control the effort expended on low-value communication.
Salespersons who cover large territories, business executives, and other mobile professionals may have preferences about callers with whom they wish to spend time that are dependent on where the mobile professional and the caller are located. Urgency of a mobile-generated call may be affected by the location of the caller. A mobile subscriber may not want to receive any low-priority calls while driving at high speed. Prior art wireless communication systems have not provided adequate solutions to such prioritization problems.
Thus, what is needed is a method for prioritizing a communication in a wireless communication system. Preferably, the method will allow prioritization based upon the relative locations of the caller and the intended recipient, further based upon the location of a calling portable unit, and further based upon the speed at which an intended portable recipient is moving.
The present invention concerns various methods for prioritizing a communication in a wireless communication system serving a plurality of portable subscriber units. One representative aspect includes: receiving the communication, which specifies a first one of the plurality of portable subscriber units for which the communication is intended, and further indicates an originator location at which an originator of the communication is positioned and determining a recipient location at which the first one of the plurality of portable subscriber units is positioned. Further included is calculating a distance between the originator location and the recipient location; diverting the communication to message storage when the distance does not meet a distance criterion; and routing the communication to the first one of the plurality of portable subscriber units when not diverting the communication to message storage. A further representative method includes receiving the communication from one of the plurality of portable subscriber units and determining a geographic location at which the one of the plurality of portable subscriber units is positioned. Further included is assigning a priority to the communication, the priority based upon the geographic location; and processing the communication in accordance with said priority.
A more detailed aspect is a method for prioritizing a communication including an originator identifier for identifying an originator of the communication in a wireless communication system serving a plurality of portable subscriber units. The method includes receiving the communication, specifying one of the plurality of portable subscriber units for which the communication is intended, computing a speed of the one of the plurality of portable subscriber units and comparing the speed with a speed threshold. Further included is comparing the originator identifier with a list of important originator identifiers associated with the one of the plurality of portable subscriber units when the speed exceeds the speed threshold; routing the communication to the one of the plurality of portable subscriber units when the speed does not exceed the speed threshold; and routing the communication to the one of the plurality of portable subscriber units when the originator identifier is included in the list of important originator identifiers.